About Trinity House

The Corporation of
Trinity House

The safety of shipping, and the well being of seafarers, have been our
prime concerns ever since Trinity House was granted a Royal Charter by Henry
VIII in 1514.

Today we have three distinct functions:

The Trinity
House Lighthouse Service

We are the General Lighthouse Authority
(GLA) for England, Wales, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar. Our remit is to
provide Aids
to Navigation to assist the safe passage of a huge variety of vessels
through some of the busiest sea-lanes in the world.

Regular traffic ranges from nimble dinghies to mighty super tankers, which have
stopping distances running to miles and turning circles to match. To meet our
obligations we deploy an impressive array of nearly 600 aids to navigation,
ranging from lighthouses
to a satellite
navigation service.

Our responsibilities also include the annual inspection and auditing of over
10,000 Aids to Navigation provided by local port and harbour authorities and
those provided on offshore structures such as production platforms or wind
farms. Trinity House is also responsible for marking, and dispersing wrecks
which are a danger to navigation.

Charitable Organisation

We are a charitable organisation dedicated to the safety, welfare and training of mariners. Click for
more info.

Deep Sea
Pilotage

We are a Deep Sea Pilotage Authority providing expert navigators for ships trading in Northern European
waters.

Trinity House are authorised by the
Secretary of State for Transport to licence Deep Sea Pilots. Although it's not
compulsory to carry a Deep Sea Pilot, many ship's masters unfamiliar with
Northern European waters like to employ their professional expertise to assist
their bridge team.